Dr. Mykhaylo Lototskyy

Key Technology Specialist

Hydrogen Storage Materials and Systems Key Technology Specialist

Dr. Mykhaylo Lototskyy (also known as Michael V. Lototsky) graduated from the Moscow State University in 1977 and received his PhD degree in 1992 from the Lviv State University (Ukraine). He held postdoctoral positions at the Institute for Energy Technology (Norway, 2002–2003) and the University of the Western Cape.

Dr Lototskyy’s passion for Research started in 1975 when he was a student at the Chemistry Faculty of Moscow State University engaging in the activities on Plasma-Chemical Synthesis of Metal Hydrides. After graduation from the University he was involved in R&D on purification of exhaust gases in ferrous metallurgy. Since 1979 Dr. Lototskyy has carried out his research in metal hydrides and in 1983 he became part of the Leading National Team (Institute of Mechanical Engineering Problems, Kharkov, Ukraine) working in the field of Hydrogen Energy and Technology, including the applications of metal hydrides. In 1988, his work in hydride material science (in co-authorship with the group from Moscow State University) was awarded by the famous and prestigious Lenin Comsomol Prize (top-rank State Award for young scientists in the former USSR).

In 2001 Dr Lototskyy was invited as a Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Energy Technology (Norway) where he was working in the field of metal hydride materials and technologies on a full-time (2002–2003) and part-time basis (1/2 workload; during the rest of his time he was continuing his metal hydride activities in Ukraine).

Dr. Lototskyy joined the University of the Western Cape in 2006 as a Visiting Researcher and later, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow (2007–2008). Currently, Dr. Lototskyy is a Senior Researcher at the South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry and Key Technology Specialist on Hydrogen Storage and Related Applications within South African Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies RDI Program (HySA Systems Competence Centre hosted by UWC).

Dr. Lototskyy is an internationally recognized and renowned researcher in the fields of Hydrogen Energy and Technology, hydrogen storage, material science and applications of metal hydrides. His current research activities focus on: the analysis of trends in hydrogen technologies, the preparation and advanced characterization of various metallic hydride-forming materials and nanocomposites on their basis, the experimental studies and modelling of thermodynamic and the kinetic performances of metal – hydrogen systems, gas-phase applications of metal hydrides including storage, compression and separation / purification of hydrogen.